When Karen gave the advice, “stop acting like a grad student,” she was working from a model grad student in her mind who, it turns out when she gave it a bit more thought, was a white male. In today’s episode, Karen and Kel dig into that normative model, and talk about all the ways that the advice on how a job seeker “needs to act” needs to be complicated to account for people who come from different subject positions and are viewed through different racist lenses. Advice about “thinking your department is out to get you” for example, needs to reflect that for many grad students of color, the department really is out to get you.
Karen and Kel talk about coping with rejection, moving beyond the typical advice to “take a break, come back to it later, etc. etc.” (which is good as far as it goes!) to discuss the deeper issues of identity and emotion that rejection triggers. Drawing from an essay by Dr. Gavin Lamb, “4 Reasons Why […] ...
Today we are joined by Dr. Chris Catarine, author of the new book Leaving Academia: A Practical Guide (2020). Karen loves this book so much, it’s the only book she’s ever reviewed on the blog. Chris shares his own journey out of the academic dream (from age 11) of being a Latin professor and on to becoming a communications strategist at a major corporation … and all the steps along the way. He serves us major insights on the grief of leaving, the limitations of Quit Lit, how to access your inner hustle, dealing with risk aversion, and whether we should be too proud to hand out beer samples in a supermarket. Throughout we grapple with the question: who will you be if you aren’t an academic? Leave this interview inspired to execute your own journey onward! [Become a subscribing member for just $3.99 a month and get access to our subscriber only goodies like free webinar recordings, AMAs, the chance to suggest topics, early access to the podcast video that we record in our house in Oregon, and — new from this week – live videos with Karen and Kel on Friday mornings, all on our dedicated podcast member page on Mighty Networks! Not ready to subscribe? Donate here to send along some support–it goes straight to the production team!] ...
Self-promotion is a dirty word for academics but it shouldn’t be. People won’t invite you to be part of their scholarly community if they don’t know who they are. And if you don’t curate your digital profile then Google will do it for you–and you don’t want that. Self-promotion encompasses all of these things. Karen and Kel talk tactics for sharing your work with scholars, networking, using social media effectively, highlighting press contacts, and why you need your own website. They also confront the dreaded idea of “building your brand.” Beyond that, though, they talk about the judgment about ambition, especially for women, and how owning your ambition is essential to taking control of your own professional fate, whether in or outside the academy. [Become a subscribing member for just $3.99 a month and get access to our subscriber only goodies like free webinar recordings, AMAs, the chance to suggest topics, early access to the podcast video that we record in our house in Oregon, and — new from this week – live videos with Karen and Kel on Friday mornings, all on our dedicated podcast member page on Mighty Networks! Not ready to subscribe? Donate here to send along some support. ...
